candlelight
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Reina decides to take Kumiko on a small date to a rather interesting location.


**a/n:** it's been a while since i've written a fic about these two, but i don't think i ever want to stop writing about them

* * *

"Hey, uh, Reina? Y-you said that this was going to be a f-fancy date, why're we going down the hallway to the other end of the school?" Kumiko tentatively trailed behind Reina as she walked down the long school building. "The exit isn't this way." Reina, positively ethereal in the moonlight in a dress that she had somehow managed to stuff into her bag earlier that day, only smiled softly as an answer.

"We're here," she announced, pausing in front of the door to the music room. The sun had gone down, the rest of the band having long since left, and Kumiko should have expected something different from merely the empty space she figured would wait on the other end of the door. "My parents don't particularly like it when I bring people home, they say that it distracts me from my pursuits, so I had to make do with what I have." Kumiko let out an involuntary gasp as Reina opened the door. The lights in the room were shut off, but candles scattered about made up for the darkness - indeed, it was as if the room had been brought to meet the sun. Two blankets - makeshift chairs, Kumiko figured - sat in the middle.

"Reina, I . . . I d-don't know what to say."

"Taki-sensei agreed to it as long as we promised to keep everything clean and to put it all away afterwards. I think he might feel somewhat nostalgic, seeing us together like this. People say that young love is a particularly strong thing, raw and untamed and beautiful. Personally, I've always thought that young love was rather stupid. _Romeo and Juliet_ was meant to exemplify how foolish youth can be, but everyone regards it as the greatest and most tragic love story ever told."

"W-what's this, then?" Kumiko gestured to the candles, then to herself and Reina. "Could it be that this is all just a really elaborate way to, uh, break up with me?" Reina giggled, and the light sound filled up the classroom like a softly ringing bell. Kumiko had never heard a more beautiful sound, not in all of her years of playing in a band and hearing the most incredible orchestras. It might have been the overly romantic setting that propelled those thoughts, but Kumiko felt that Reina's laugh put every single symphony to shame.

"No, of course not. Young love, it may be the idealistic nonsense of people who want to feel like children again, but I don't doubt that there's a small ring of truth to it. We're still teenagers, Kumiko, we're still living in the pinnacle of our youth, but that doesn't mean that we're idiots." Reina sat down on one of the blankets and dug through her bag for something that Kumiko couldn't see. "I'm not sure about you, Kumiko, but I firmly believe that I'm going to become special, and you'll become special too, when that happens. We'll travel the world together, perhaps, take a train far away from this place and never look back." Reina's eyes seemed to hold an entire galaxy, and Kumiko could feel the breath being stolen from her lungs.

"I'd like that too, Reina," she murmured, slowly crouching down onto the other blanket. "I'd like that a lot, r-really."

"I'm glad." The "dinner," if it could be called that, was really just two bags of potato chips set out on fancy china plates. "I wasn't allowed to bring anything particularly fancy to the room," Reina explained. "'Miss Kousaka, I'm already allotting you a very fragile privilege by letting you have dinner with your . . . _gal pal_ in this room, please do not bring anything that could potentially stain the carpet.'" Reina's voice dropped an octave as she performed a spot-on imitation of Taki, patronizing smile and all. "I wasn't willing to argue."

"That's fine," Kumiko said, attempting to open her bag. "These actually, uh, look really good! I'll take one and eat it as s-soon as I can get . . . this bag . . . _open!"_ The bag opened with a _pop,_ and Kumiko was practically flung backwards by the force. Reina seemed to be trying (unsuccessfully) to hold back laughter.

"Would you like help with that?" she chuckled.

"I got it open," Kumiko huffed. "Even if it, uh, took a lot of effort."

"I can tell." Reina gave a teasing smirk, deftly opening her own bag in less than a second. "In any case, the stars are nice tonight, aren't they?" Kumiko looked out the window, and sure enough, the dark sky was lit up by thousands of the glowing lights, millions and millions of miles away but close enough to just be barely seen. "It's remarkable, how stunning they can be." Reina had given up sitting on her own blanket to press against Kumiko, but she didn't complain - how could she, when the girl she loved was so softly leaning on her? There was such serenity in the moment, such undeniable peace and _warmth,_ that Kumiko would have gladly lived in it forever.

"Y-you know that I'm in love with you, right?" If any time was perfect for another confession, Kumiko thought, this was it. Reina nodded.

"You've told me that before, Kumiko, there's no need for you to repeat yourself. I love you too, if that was what you needed to hear." Reina gave her a small peck on the cheek, so gentle that Kumiko could have easily missed it if not for the explosion of warmth that it had caused.

"You're s-so incredible, Reina," Kumiko breathed, returning the gesture.

"You're terrible," Reina laughed, peppering Kumiko's neck with kisses. "You should know by now that I'm anything but an incredible person." Kumiko leaned further into her embrace. "Special, perhaps, but I doubt that anyone is truly as _incredible_ as one might see them."

"You're wrong." Kumiko felt as if this, right here, right now, was where she had always been meant to be. "I know you, Reina, you're far from perfect, b-both of us are, but that doesn't change a thing." Kumiko grasped the back of Reina's dress, trying as hard as she could to get closer, closer, as close as she possibly could, until the both of them were entangled in each other's limbs and kissing fervently on the mouth, Reina's soft lips crashing against Kumiko's own. Rosemary flooded her senses, the candles lighting up Reina's features and casting a glow on her smile.

"Flaws are what makes us human," Reina panted, and Kumiko thought that she might be the only person in the world who could make philosophical conversation in the midst of a makeout session and yet still be really, _really_ hot while doing it.

"How long can we stay?" Kumiko asked between breaths, hardly willing to let go any time soon.

"As long as the classroom returns to its previous state before the morning." Reina nuzzled Kumiko's neck softly, warm and familiar. "We have time, Kumiko, we have all the time in the world."

* * *

The morning came all too quickly, the off-key chirping of birds alerting Kumiko to the fact that she no longer remained in the serenity of nighttime. The candles had since burned out, the potato chip bags empty. She reluctantly stirred from her blanket, being careful not to disturb Reina any more than absolutely needed.

"Reina," she whispered, nudging the other girl awake from her slumber. "Reina, we need to set up the classroom. It's morning, we need to get it back in shape before the others come here." Reina let out a quiet _hmph_ of protest, pouting as she began to stand up, and Kumiko thought that it might have been the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

"They'll wonder why," Reina murmured, picking up the blankets and shoving them into the nearest closet.

"W-what?"

"They'll wonder why we're already here. People will talk, Kumiko."

"Why'd you do this, then, if you were worried about s-something like that?"

"Because I don't care," Reina replied simply. "People will talk, Asuka will spread rumors, there will be some degree of concern, but it doesn't worry me in the slightest. I won't let them do anything to us. I won't let it bother me, because otherwise it would become nearly impossible to see the good things. We can't keep on hiding. Intimacy is one thing, secrets are another." Kumiko crumpled the chip bags and flung them into the trash can.

"Y-you're not scared?"

"I'm terrified. That doesn't mean that I won't continue with these dinner dates, that we'll stop seeing each other because of fear."

"I s-still don't really get it, but that sounds okay."

"Well, in that case, then perhaps we should hold off on setting up these chairs and stay for a little while longer." Reina grabbed Kumiko's hand with a smile spreading across her features, spinning her around in an impromptu dance. Kumiko didn't have the slightest idea how to dance, but she tried her best to follow Reina's movements, and before she knew it, the two of them were engaged in what was probably a poor imitation of a waltz, hands intertwined as if they would never let go.

"I'd like to do it," Kumiko murmured.

"Do what?"

"Y'know, the thing you said last night. Getting on a train, traveling far away. I'd, uh, I'd like that."

"When?" Reina looked even more god-like in the light of the morning sun, softly glowing like the snow in midday with her violet eyes twinkling, and all Kumiko could think was _oh, I don't know how a world like this one managed to create this girl._

"We have time, don't we?" she laughed, and it was as if nothing else mattered.

Asuka stepped into the room an hour later, only giving a knowing smile and a shake of her head when she saw the two girls still holding each other in such a loving embrace.


End file.
